A system and a method for providing an input to a distributed power amplifying system are provided. In an embodiment, a distributed power amplifying system includes a plurality of amplifying sections (102, 104, 106, and 108) and a plurality of drivers (110, 112, 114, and 116). Each of the plurality of drivers receives a common transmit signal (118) and an individual control signal (120, 122, 124, and 126). Each of the plurality of drivers independently preconditions the common transmit signal, to provide a transmit output signal (128, 130, 132, and 134) to each of the plurality of amplifying sections. The common transmit signal provided to each of the plurality of drivers is preconditioned, based on the individual control signal.
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2. A distributed power amplifying system, comprising:
a plurality of amplifying sections;
a plurality of drivers receiving a common transmit signal and an individual control signal, each of the plurality of drivers independently preconditioning the common transmit signal based on the individual control signal to provide a transmit output signal to each of the plurality of amplifying sections; and
wherein each of the plurality of drivers preconditions the common transmit signal using a phase shifter and a gain control amplifier.
4. A distributed power amplifying system, comprising:
a plurality of amplifying sections;
a plurality of drivers receiving a common transmit signal and an individual control signal, each of the plurality of drivers independently preconditioning the common transmit signal based on the individual control signal to provide a transmit output signal to each of the plurality of amplifying sections; and
wherein each of the plurality of drivers preconditions the common transmit signal using a series of selectively controlled delay elements and an amplifier.
3. A distributed power amplifying system, comprising:
a plurality of amplifying sections;
a plurality of drivers receiving a common transmit signal and an individual control signal, each of the plurality of drivers independently preconditioning the common transmit signal based on the individual control signal to provide a transmit output signal to each of the plurality of amplifying sections; and
wherein each of the plurality of drivers preconditions the common transmit signal using a mixer to adjust phase and amplitude of the common transmit signal.
1. A distributed power amplifying system, comprising:
a plurality of amplifying sections;
a plurality of drivers receiving a common transmit signal and an individual control signal, each of the plurality of drivers independently preconditioning the common transmit signal based on the individual control signal to provide a transmit output signal to each of the plurality of amplifying sections; and
wherein each of the plurality of drivers comprises a detector for sampling the transmit output signal to provide a sampled signal, the sampled signal being compared to a predetermined thresholds and the individual control signal being adjusted in response thereto.
12. A method for preconditioning a common transmit signal for a distributed power amplifying system, the method comprising:
acquiring the common transmit signal;
preconditioning the common transmit signal using a plurality of drivers thereby providing a transmit output signal for each of the plurality of drivers, the step of preconditioning comprising the steps of phase adjusting the common transmit signal to provide a series of phase adjusted signals within each of the plurality of drivers and amplitude adjusting the selected phase adjusted signal to provide a transmit output signal for each of the plurality of drivers; and
applying the transmit output signal from each of the plurality of drivers to an amplifying section of the distributed power amplifying system.
5. A distributed power amplifying system, comprising:
a plurality of amplifying sections;
a plurality of drivers receiving a common transmit signal and an individual control signal, each of the plurality of drivers independently preconditioning the common transmit signal based on the individual control signal to provide a transmit output signal to each of the plurality of amplifying sections; and
wherein each of the plurality of drivers comprises:
a series of delay elements for shifting the phase of the common transmit signal to provide a plurality of phase shifted signals within each of the plurality of drivers;
a signal selection switch for selecting at least one of the plurality of phase shifted signals based on the individual control signal for each of the plurality drivers to provide a selected phase shifted signal; and
an amplifier for amplifying the selected phase shifted signal thereby providing the transmit output signal to one of the plurality of amplifying sections.
6. The distributed power amplifying system of
a detector for sampling the transmit output signal to provide a sampled signal;
a comparator for comparing the amplitude and phase of the sampled signal to predetermined amplitude threshold and predetermined phase threshold;
a delay tuning module for tuning the delay of the series of delay elements; and
the individual control signal being updated if the predetermined thresholds are not met and an updated control signal being provided to the signal selection switch and delay tuning module.
7. The distributed power amplifying system of
8. The distributed power amplifying system of
9. The distributed power amplifying system of
10. The distributed power amplifying system of
11. The distributed power amplifying system of
13. The method of
sampling the transmit output signal;
comparing the phase and the amplitude of the sampled output signal to predetermined amplitude and phase thresholds; and
modifying the phase and amplitude based on the predetermined amplitude and phase thresholds.
14. The method of
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The present invention relates to the field of distributed power amplifying systems. In particular, the present invention relates to drivers that provide inputs to different amplifying sections of the distributed power amplifying systems.
A distributed power amplifying system produces an output by successively collecting the contributions of different amplifying sections along a transmission line, typically a uniform transmission line. In a conventional distributed power amplifying system, a single driver provides input signals to the different amplifying sections of the distributed power amplifying system. The input to the single driver is a signal represented by m(t). The single driver generates a plurality of signals S1(t), S2(t) . . . , and SN(t) from m(t). The plurality of signals S1(t), S2(t), . . . , and SN(t) drive the various amplifying sections (1, 2, . . . , N) of the distributed power amplifying system.
The number of signals (N) generated by the driver depends on the number of amplifying sections of the distributed power amplifying system. When the number of amplifying sections of the distributed power amplifying system increases or decreases, the single driver is subject to input loading effects which limit the number of usable sections.
Moreover, the plurality of signals S1(t), S2(t) . . . , and SN(t) generated by the driver are correlated. The noise in the plurality of signals S1(t), S2(t) . . . , and SN(t) is also correlated because of the correlation between the signals S1(t), S2(t) . . . , and SN(t).
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved apparatus and method for providing the plurality of signals S1(t), S2(t) . . . , and SN(t) to the different amplifying sections of the distributed power amplifying system.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the accompanying figures, in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which:
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
In an embodiment, a distributed power amplifying system includes a plurality of amplifying sections and a plurality of drivers. Each of the plurality of drivers receives a common transmit signal and an individual control signal. Each of the plurality of drivers independently preconditions the common transmit signal to provide a transmit output signal to each of the plurality of amplifying sections. The common transmit signal provided to each of the plurality of drivers is preconditioned, based on the individual control signal.
In another embodiment, a method for preconditioning a common transmit signal, provided to a distributed power amplifying system, is given. To precondition the common transmit signal, the common transmit signal is acquired by a driver. After this, the common transmit signal is preconditioned by a plurality of independently controlled drivers, to produce a transmit output signal. Further, the transmit output signal produced by each driver is provided to an amplifying section of the distributed power amplifying system.
Before describing in detail a method and system for providing an input to the amplifying sections of the distributed power amplifying system, in accordance with the present invention, it should be observed that the present invention resides primarily in combinations of method steps and system components related to the amplifying system. Accordingly, the apparatus components and method steps have been represented, where appropriate, by conventional symbols in the drawings. These drawings show only the specific details that are pertinent for understanding the present invention, so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be apparent to those with ordinary skill in the art and the benefit of the description herein.
In this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element preceded by “comprises . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
Various embodiments of the present invention provide a system and a method for preconditioning a common transmit signal, to produce a transmit output signal. The transmit output signal is provided to an amplifying section of a distributed power amplifying system. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the common transmit signal is preconditioned by adjusting its phase and amplitude, based on a control signal provided to a driver.
The driver 110, the driver 112, the driver 114, and the driver 116 independently precondition a common transmit signal 118, based on individual control signals 120, 122, 124, and 126 received. As shown in
The driver 110, the driver 112, the driver 114, and the driver 116 precondition the common transmit signal 118 to produce a transmit output signal 128, a transmit output signal 130, a transmit output signal 132, and a transmit output signal 134 respectively. Further, the transmit output signal 128, the transmit output signal 130, the transmit output signal 132, and the transmit output signal 134 are provided to the amplifying section 102, the amplifying section 104, the amplifying section 106, and the amplifying section 108 respectively.
The amplifying sections 102, 104, 106, and 108 amplify the transmit output signals 128, 130, 132, and 134 to produce an amplified transmit output signal 136, an amplified transmit output signal 138, an amplified transmit output signal 140, and an amplified transmit output signal 142 respectively. Further, the sum of the amplified transmit output signals 136, 138, 140, and 142 is provided to the output load 144. The signal shaper also shapes signals for optimal processing by delay elements.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the amplifying sections 102, 104, 106, and 108 may be amplifying sections of a Linear Amplification using Nonlinear Components (LINC) amplifier. In another embodiment of the present invention, the amplifying sections 102, 104, 106, and 108 may be amplifying sections of a Doherty style amplifier. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the amplifying sections 102, 104, 106, and 108 may be amplifying sections of a vector combining amplifier.
The signal shaper 202 receives and shapes the common transmit signal 118. For example, the signal shaper 202 may shape the common transmit signal 118 by adjusting the amplitude of the common transmit signal 118. The amplitude of the common transmit signal 118 may be adjusted either by scaling its amplitude to a desired amplitude value or by replacing its amplitude by a desired amplitude value. The signal shaper 202 shapes the common transmit signal 118, to accommodate the losses suffered by the common transmit signal 118 during transmission. [For the inventor: As per our understanding, the signal shaper shapes the common transmit signal to accommodate for the losses suffered by it during transmission. Please confirm our understanding.]
After shaping, the common transmit signal 118 is provided to the delay element 204. The delay element 204 provides a predetermined phase shift to the common transmit signal 118. The information pertaining to the predetermined phase shift is provided by the control signal 120 that is provided to the control signal receiver and updater 234. The predetermined phase shift is determined on the basis of the phase of the amplifying section 102 (not shown in
The buffers 210, 212, and 214 provide the phase shifted signals 205, 207, and 209 to the signal selection switch 216. The signal selection switch 216 selects one of the phase shifted signals 205, 207, and 209 on the basis of the control signal 120. The output of the signal selection switch 216 is a selected phase shifted signal 218. The selected phase shifted signal 218 is provided to the bias circuitry 220.
The bias circuitry 220 provides an operating voltage to the selected phase shifted signal 218. The bias circuitry 220 provides the selected phase shifted signal 218 to the amplifier 222. The operating voltage is provided so that the selected phase shifted signal 218 has an adequate voltage level to drive the amplifier 222.
The amplifier 222 amplifies the selected phase shifted signal 218 to produce the transmit output signal 128, on the basis of the control signal 120. The selected phase shifted signal 218 is amplified to accommodate losses suffered by the common transmit signal 118 in the driver 110. The amplifier 222 provides the transmit output signal 128 to the amplifying section 102 (not shown in
The detector 224 samples the transmit output signal 128. The output of the detector 224 is a sampled signal 230 that is provided to the comparator 232. The comparator 232 compares the amplitude and phase of the sampled signal 230 with a predetermined amplitude threshold and a predetermined phase threshold respectively. If the predetermined amplitude and the predetermined phase threshold conditions are not met, then the control signal receiver and updater 234 update the control signal 120. For example, for a 45 degree output, thresholds for delay driver 10 may be magnitude 1, phase 0°, driver 112 may be magnitude 1, phase 45°, driver 124 may be magnitude 1, phase 90°, driver 126 may be magnitude 1, phase 135° for in phase power combining. The control signal 120 is updated to produce an updated control signal 236 that is provided to the delay tuning module 226. Further, the common transmit signal 118 is preconditioned on the basis of the updated control signal 236 to provide the predetermined amplitude and the predetermined phase threshold to the transmit output signal 128.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the driver 110 has two detectors 224 and two comparators 232 to provide two transmit output signals 128 to a differential distributed power amplifying system.
The mixer 302 receives the common transmit signal 118, a phase modulation signal 310, and an amplitude modulation signal 312. The mixer 302 receives the phase modulation signal 310 and the amplitude modulation signal 312 from the modulation signal receiver and updater 314 which is under control of control input signal 322. The mixer 302 adjusts the phase and amplitude of the common transmit signal 118. The mixer 302 adjusts the phase of the common transmit signal 118 by multiplying the common signal 118 by the phase modulation signal 310. Further, the amplitude of the common transmit signal 118 is adjusted by multiplying the common transmit signal 118 by the amplitude modulation signal 312. The output of the mixer 302 is passed to the buffering module 304.
The buffering module 304 amplifies and buffers the common transmit signal 118 to stabilize the common transmit signal 118. The current drive of the common transmit signal 118 is increased to meet the current requirement of the amplifying section 102 (not shown in
The detector 316 samples the transmit output signal 128 to produce a sampled signal 318. The sampled signal 318 is provided to the comparator 320. The comparator 320 compares the amplitude of the sampled signal 318 with a predetermined amplitude threshold, and the phase of the sampled signal 318 with a predetermined phase threshold. The modulation signal receiver and updater 314 updates the phase modulation signal 310 and the amplitude modulation signal 312 if the predetermined amplitude and phase threshold conditions are not met.
The phase shifter 402 receives the common transmit signal 118 and the control signal 120. The phase shifter 402 receives the control signal 120 from the control signal receiver and updater 418. The phase shifter 402 shifts the phase of the common transmit signal 118 to produce a phase shifted signal 403 on the basis of the control signal 120. Further, the phase shifted signal 403 and the control signal 120 are provided to the gain control amplifier 404. The gain control amplifier 404 amplifies the phase shifted signal 403 to produce the transmit output signal 128. The gain control amplifier 404 amplifies the phase shifted signal 403 on the basis of the control signal 120. In an embodiment of the present invention, the transmit output signal 128 is provided to the amplifying section 102. In another embodiment of the present invention, the output of the gain control amplifier 404 is passed to a buffering module 406.
The buffering module 406 amplifies and buffers the common transmit signal 118 to stabilize the common transmit signal 118. The current drive of the common transmit signal 118 is increased to meet the current requirement of the amplifying section 102 (not shown in
The detector 412 samples the transmit output signal 128 to produce a sampled signal 414. The sampled signal 414 is provided to the comparator 416. The comparator 416 compares the amplitude of the sampled signal 414 with a predetermined amplitude threshold, and the phase of the sampled signal 414 with a predetermined phase threshold, such as those given as examples earlier. Further, the control signal receiver and updater 418 updates the control signal 120 to produce an updated control signal 420 if the predetermined amplitude and phase threshold conditions are not met.
Various embodiments of the present invention provide a manufacturing flexibility to drivers. The manufacturing flexibility is provided by using independent drivers providing transmit output signals to amplifying sections. The number of drivers may be increased or decreased without all the drivers being changed. For example, a driver may be removed from the distributed power amplifying system if an amplifying section is not needed because of the decrease in the required amplification. Further, an extra driver may be added to the distributed power amplifying system if an extra amplifying section is needed because of an increase in the required amplification. Further, various embodiments of the present invention provide a mechanism that supplies input signals to the amplifying sections of a distributed power amplifying system from independent drivers acting as independent input sources. The input signals from the independent drivers have an uncorrelated noise component. As a result, the desired input signals are added in phase, and noise signals are not added in phase, to increase the sound to noise ratio. Further, the input signals provided by the independent drivers are conditioned to meet a predetermined phase and amplitude requirement. The conditioned input signals increase the efficiency of the amplifying sections of the distributed power amplifying system. The conditioned signal removes the termination mismatch and its ripples. The independent drivers, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, make input signals more unilateral. The unilateral input signal implies that the output is not looped back to the input. The distributed power amplifying system of the present invention reduces the reverse coupling effect. Reduction in reverse coupling reduces nested loops. Further, the distributed amplifying system overcomes the high-frequency limitations of the amplifying sections due to the elimination of increased input loading with increased number of sections.
In the foregoing specification, the invention and its benefits and advantages have been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present invention. The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.
Stengel, Robert E., Thompson, Bruce M.
| Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
| Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
| 6667659, | Feb 28 2002 | MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS, INC | High efficiency amplifier |
| Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
| May 06 2005 | Motorola, Inc. | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / | |||
| May 06 2005 | THOMPSON, BRUCE M | Motorola, Inc | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016542 | /0529 | |
| May 06 2005 | STENGEL, ROBERT E | Motorola, Inc | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016542 | /0529 | |
| Jan 04 2011 | Motorola, Inc | MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS, INC | CHANGE OF NAME SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 026081 | /0001 |
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